Estate of Marcia P. Hoffman, deceased, Elisabeth Hoffman, Personal Representative - Page 15




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               The estate is not attempting to alter the unambiguous terms            
          of the marital settlement and thus avoid the tax consequences               
          which flow from it.  Rather, the estate introduced the testimony            
          of three witnesses with personal knowledge of the marital                   
          settlement in order to show that the parties intended the                   
          guaranty obligation of Mr. Hoffman to be personal to decedent               
          only and to terminate upon the death of either party.  For                  
          purposes of this case, the relevant inquiry is whether, under the           
          terms of the marital settlement, the guaranty obligation of Mr.             
          Hoffman terminated on the death of decedent.                                
               Mr. Hoffman testified that the guaranteed payments were tied           
          to alimony and that he did not intend for the guaranty obligation           
          to survive decedent’s death.  He stated that the guaranty                   
          provision was inserted into the marital settlement because he did           
          not have enough cash up front to pay the amount of alimony that             
          decedent wanted; thus, the parties to the marital settlement                
          negotiated lower monthly alimony payments in the initial years              
          after the divorce in return for larger payments of cash in future           
          years.  Mr. Hoffman testified that on the date the final                    
          guaranteed payment was due, decedent would presumably have been             
          able to sell the SCC and WLI stock and liquidate her holdings,              
          thereby meeting her financial needs.  Mr. Hoffman testified that            
          he had not made any payments pursuant to the guaranty obligation            
          because he believed the guaranty obligation ceased at decedent’s            






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